Shaq received a cortisone shot into his Achilles yesterday, and is forced to wear an immobilizing walking boot. Despite this, he is still scheduled to return April 1st. If Shaq is already receiving this much attention this close to the play-offs, the obvious question has to be thrown out on the table...can the Celtics win the ship' without Shaq?

In Response to Can the C's survive without Shaq? : Without Shaq but JO is healthy, yes! But if both O'Neals are out they might make it to the Finals but not sure if they can beat the Lakers or the Spurs.Posted by Fiercest34

Without Shaq the Celtics may not win more than the 1st round of the playoffs. I think that Jermaine may be able to contribute, but we have to see how he plays when he returns. I will be optimistic, but not hoping for much from Jermaine.

Shaq received a cortisone shot into his Achilles yesterday, and is forced to wear an immobilizing walking boot. Despite this, he is still scheduled to return April 1st. If Shaq is already receiving this much attention this close to the play-offs, the obvious question has to be thrown out on the table...can the Celtics win the ship' without Shaq? http://www.thebostonjam.com/Posted by rondoguy9

No Shaq - no title.......... but extra work on their golf swings and in Rondo's case extra roller skating practice...

Agreed. We may not get out of the east without Shaq. JON is no substitute for Shaq, just a bonus if he is also healthy... and greatly improves our chances of winning it all.

We also need West healthy, because if Rondo continues to lose games that we should have otherwise won, with a capable PG, Doc has an able replacement. Rondo the fraud gets traded next year anyway, so Doc won't be concerned with the implications of Rondo's immaturity when he gets benched.

Agreed. We may not get out of the east without Shaq. JON is no substitute for Shaq, just a bonus if he is also healthy... and greatly improves our chances of winning it all. We also need West healthy, because if Rondo continues to lose games that we should have otherwise won, with a capable PG, Doc has an able replacement. Rondo the fraud gets traded next year anyway, so Doc won't be concerned with the implications of Rondo's immaturity when he gets benched. Posted by Eldunker

With a lockout pending and a hard cap as a result Rondo has ZERO trade value.

I think we need both. One for offense and the other for defense. They bring toughness that lacking. Kisstic is to soft.hel get pushed around by th eelite centers...Howard will treat him like his kid brother.

I posted this under the Celts-Bobcat game thread but it's an appropriate repeat here.

Yes, it is essential that we have Shaq & maybe JON too as it's likely Shaq will foul out. We need them mostly for the "D" we are missing w/o Perkins & also rebounds & offensive ones too. Plus, Shaq, especially, can pound the ball in the basket like Howard, Bynum etc.

Unless Shaq returns, we are toast. Can't beat Memphis & Charlotte at Home and we think that the difference in our prospective # 18 title is finishing # 1 so we can have game 7 at home vs. the Lakers. Firstly, let me say I hate the Lakers(live in SF bay area & all our teams hate LA teams sort of like Boston & NY). We are basically a outside the paint shooting team. When we do 50%+ we can win. The Lakers, on the other hand, can have a bad shooting night but with Gasol, Bynum & Odom dominating the paint, they get another & another etc. chance getting rebounds. Those 3 can pass it out or muscle a dunk in. Whom do we have. Perk could but his cement hands didn't allow him to keep the ball. BB is too short & Garnett prefers short jumpers. Other big problem we have is that opponents have 5 to guard 4 as Rondo's inability to shoot a decent % allow them to not guard him closely.

Alas, and I'm ashamed to say it as I'm still angry about game 7 last year about disparity in foul shots but there was a disparity too in rebounds(yup, I know we were missing Perk) and can't complain about that. The Lakers are 12-13 & 1 and Bulls are 12 or 13 and 2 since the allstar game. Unfortunately, I think the Lakers are the team to beat again. Kobe, as much as I dislike him, is definitely better than our Paul Pierce and the very best since Michael Jordan.